in degrees celsius
by Nanaho-Hime
Summary: "I'm too late. You're already delusional." -ScorpiusMollyII- Entry to the Next Generation Romance Challenge


in degrees celsius

by Nanaho-Hime

for a challenge

disclaimer: I own nothing.

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><p><em>i. she's a flame that lights up the sky<em>

Molly is widely disliked by many and, the thing is, she couldn't care less. She'll say nasty things and she'll give nasty glares and people will whisper that she is so uptight, so rude.

(and maybe she is, but she doesn't give a hoot)

Molly is a paradox. She's ice cold to the point of being frigid; and she's fire to the point of being frightening. People are scared of her and she prefers it that way.

There are very few people in the world who can hope to match her tongue and her wit. She knows this and she is _proud_, so proud, because she is _untouchable_. No one can say anything to her because she'll tear them down in an instant. Few people ever see her affections.

(But when she shows it, oh goodness, she's so afraid)

The thing is, Molly will never be forgotten. Molly will go down in history.

_ii. to disappear is to be_

Scorpius Malfoy is widely loathed for purely shallow reasons and it's a good thing he has such a dry sense of humor or he may very well have killed himself.

He's a very smart boy, with an honor code that is unheard of in Slytherin house. He doesn't have very many friends in his own house, save Albus Potter and Lucy Weasley. Albus is wise in ways he couldn't have imagined a family of nitwits could produce and Lucy is sharp and cold, and he's ridiculously fond of her. She's very much like the younger sister he's never had and she becomes as much a confidante as Al.

Lucy's older sister Molly is younger than him, by a year, and she's very defiant with everyone around her. It's very foolish and he doesn't understand how the girl could have ended up in Ravenclaw with a hot temper of that degree.

Lucy introduces him to her sister when he goes to stay with Al the summer after their fourth year and Molly looks at him as though he is an insect.

She greets him for Lucy's sake, but her blue eyes flash in disdain and she spends the summer avoiding him like the plague.

Scorpius is content to fade in the background. Experience has taught him that life passes peacefully for those who are invisible.

(Girls like Molly Weasley will go out in a burst of tragedy)

_iii. it seems we've arrived at an impasse_

Molly does not like Scorpius Malfoy or Lucy's friendship with him. Molly loves Lucy, more than anyone in the world, and perhaps she's a little jealous. Scorpius dotes on Lucy like an overprotective older brother but Lucy belongs to Molly and nobody else.

The thing about Scorpius Malfoy is he might just be the one to take her down a notch or two. He is unaffected by her coldness and he makes her look like a fool when she gets fired up. He seems to think they're friends by association. He'll greet her in the hallways at school and when she returns with something cold and nasty and rude, he rebuts in a way that makes her feel as though she's lost and she _hates _it.

The thing is, he gets along with most of her family. James is the only one who hates him just as much as she does, and she's never exactly seen eye to eye with her older cousin.

Scorpius Malfoy mocks her, albeit subtly. He makes her feel as though her ice and fire image is nothing but a joke, silliness. He makes her feel like a child.

(and maybe she doesn't want handsome boys to knock her off her pedestal)

_iv. machinations of ferret spawn_

Scorpius enjoys teasing Molly. He doesn't really know what it is. Maybe it's because she gets flushed and frustrated when he's being a smooth operator. Maybe it's because she treats him like an adversary and he finds it a little cute. There's no denying she's a pretty little thing, and maybe it's just harmless flirting on his part.

Lucy is very perceptive and she seems to know about his burgeoning crush.

"You're crazy."

He looks up from his book with absentminded grey eyes, "What do you mean?"

"Molly will eat you alive."

He laughs at the thought of the tiny redhead, scowling at him.

"She's actually pretty harmless."

Lucy gives him a skeptical look and shakes her head in exasperation.

"I'm too late. You're already delusional."

_v. cry quietly so nobody hears_

Her Grandpa Arthur dies in her fifth year, just before her OWLs. Grandpa Arthur was one of the few people who believed, wholeheartedly believed, in the sweetness of her heart. He was one of two people who could get her to laugh warmly and speak uninhibitedly. He made her feel like she was beloved, like she was vital to the Weasley family dynamic and now he is gone and she feels very lost.

Her heart is breaking into small pieces and she doesn't know what to do.

She heads back to her dorm in the Ravenclaw tower when she drops her Charms book and she suddenly feels so tired and she cries like she'll never be happy again. She used to be proud of herself. She used to believe in her haughtiness and now she just feels ugly.

(like she's ugly on the inside)

And as her dignity shatters at her feet, Scorpius Malfoy runs around the corner.

_vi. teary blue eyes, they'll be your undoing_

Scorpius sees her back first and her books on the floor and he's not quite sure what to do. He'd been comforting Lucy and Albus the last few days, but Molly had completely disappeared from his life and he doesn't really know how she's coping.

He makes his way over to her. She's shaking ever so slightly, her books scattered around the floor. He doesn't really know what to say, so he bends over to pick up her books. When he finally looks at her face, he drops the books and draws her closer to him.

She goes limp in his arms, buries her face in his shoulders. She doesn't make a sound when she cries; she shakes violently, silently, and it's so ridiculously tragic.

"Shh," he murmurs, patting her on the back, "it'll be alright, you'll be ok."

"What do you know?" he can hear the sob in her voice and she sounds so frail and vulnerable and this is Molly without the barbed wire fence (and he thinks she's lovely).

"I know that you'll be ok."

And she looks up at him, with big, teary blue eyes, and his attraction multiplies. He gives her a swift kiss on the forehead, barely even there, and she blinks with her mouth slightly open and her tears subsiding.

"Don't be smart with me, Scorpius Malfoy."

He's glad to hear the orneriness back in her voice.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Weasley."

_vii. an ending of sorts_

So sometimes she holds his hand and sometimes he steals a kiss and she becomes a little bit kinder and he becomes a little bit bolder. She still runs hot and cold, and he still prefers to take a backseat to the action, but they smile a whole lot more, and it's warm and lovely and maybe that's all that matters

And he's knocked her off her pedestal, but he holds her a little higher so she can still have a view.

_the end_

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><p>AN: I really don't know. This definitely took on a life of its own. I can't really see Molly and Scorpius together but that's the point of challenges right? Tell me if I convinced you of these two or not.

Reviews are, as always, infinite love :-)


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